My own activated intuition and predictive spontaneity for Stranger Things Season 5 proved correct. Will is the Yin to Vecna's Yang. I’ll bet that Holly, Max, Will, and Eleven might team up to take Vecna down once and for all. It took four gates to open the Upside Down on Earth. Now it’s up to four fates to close them all. With a budget of $480M for Season 5 let us hope the Upside Down doesn’t turn inside out and sideways. Only time will tell the tales. Vecna agrees “it is time” to bring the battles of Greyhawk(ins) to an end in a series of epic stand offs, and then when all is nearly lost a final boss battle in a clash of the psychic titans.
Another thought I had while on my chilly Swamp Rabbit Trail walk today is that the key to beating Vecna may lie in three synchronized souls, not four. I think it’s clear that the title of sorcerer belongs to Eleven. Add Wi11 and Ho11y, and now there’s three. The number eleven clearly in both of their names. Eleven the psychic sorceress, Will the wise wizard, and Holly the heroic cleric. The future of our heroes all boils down to three magic users against One. Could Vecna — Master of the Spider Throne — win? or does Will as Tolkien’s Blue Wizard Alatar — After Comer & Darkness Slayer — prevail with a little help from Eleven and Holly?
After watching the first four episodes that dropped on November 26, I now realize I got Eleven and Will backwards. Will is the sorcerer and Eleven is a wizard. There are clear canonical D&D distinctions between the two. Wizards are taught how to develop and harness their powers. Sorcerers are born with theirs. Eleven was taught through lessons at Hawkins Lab, and Will was not. Does Eddie return, resurrected? Will Vecna’s own vampire general, Kas the Bloody-Handed, betray him in the final moment of a battle that is sure to ultimately wreak havoc on our heroes? I hope not. That’s far too easy from a writer’s point of view. I have a feeling that the Duffer Brothers’ own take of everyone’s fate will be far more compelling than copying Kas directly from D&D. While plenty of fans believe that Will or Eddie will become Kas, that viewpoint is far too shallow and obvious. Sorry ChatGPT.
Does Eddie return, resurrected? Will Vecna’s own vampire general, Kas the Bloody-Handed, betray him in the final moment of a battle that is sure to ultimately wreak havoc on our heroes? I hope not. That’s far too easy from a writer’s point of view.
I have a feeling that the Duffer Brothers’ own take of everyone’s fate will be far more compelling than copying Kas directly from D&D. While plenty of fans believe that Will or Eddie will become Kas, that viewpoint is far too shallow and obvious. Sorry ChatGPT.
O R I G I N A L P O S T A N D P R E D I C T I V E A R T W O R K / J A N U A R Y 2 3 , 2 0 2 3
“Clash of the Titans: Alatar, After Comer Darkness Slayer & Vecna, Master of the Spider Throne.” Beginning with Stranger Things S1:E1 the Duffer Brothers combined lore from Dungeons & Dragons and The Lord of the Rings. Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Will were playing D&D where we first heard about the dreaded Demogorgon. Then later in the episode after Will had disappeared, his mom and brother are seen in the woods. Joyce reaches Castle Byers and there’s a quick flashback. She’s asked for the password to enter: Radagast, introduced in Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
I have a sneaky suspicion that Will’s connection with the Upside Down goes deeper than we know. Tolkien discusses the Blue Wizards in his “essays of the Istari,” and I’d bet $2 that Will may just be Alatar, one of the two Blues. We’ll just have to wait and see until November 27 to discover Will’s true nature. I created these two title graphics, one flat and textured treated similarly to the show’s opening graphics, but I added some Upside Down details in the center. The 3D version (above) was an exercise in experimenting with the new bevels introduced in C4D R21.
The Duffer Brothers have dipped back into the 80’s movie nostalgia and wield the lore of J. R. R. Tolkien & E. Gary Gygax | Smaug vs Tiamat | Middle Earth vs Oerth | The Lord of the Rings vs Dungeons & Dragons. Stranger Things Season V: The Battle of Greyhawk(ins). S5 coming November 2025.